He also warned UEFA that the major clubs could break away if certain demands were not met.

On the payment of players during World Cups and European Championships, he said: 'This is what we are discussing with both institutions (for the governing bodies to pay).

'That could happen in the near future because we don't think it's fair that we pay the salaries and they use our players and they get income using our players. This is something that has to be treated very seriously.

'We hope they will hear what we want to tell them.'

Like the Premier League, La Liga in Spain and Italy's Serie A have 20 teams but Rosell said: 'The objective of reducing from 20 to 16 teams is to give more space to our players.

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'Then once the dates are liberated, these dates are not for the (national) federations. The dates are for the clubs to organise friendly games or to increase the European competitions.'

Rosell said UEFA needs to address calls by the European Club Association (ECA) for a bigger Champions League to create more revenue.

'We want to have the Champions League under the umbrella of UEFA, but we also want UEFA to hear our demands, what the European Club Association is asking,' he said.

'We are asking for more revenue. We are asking for governance, transparency, insurance.

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'We would like to have a Champions League with more teams. That means, one day we can play a Barcelona v Manchester United Champions League game on Saturday or Sunday.'

Premier League teams have fiercely resisted previous attempts to cut numbers but Rosell said the lure of an enlarged Champions League could be decisive.

'We have to convince the Premier League to reduce to 16 teams as well,' he said.

UEFA's agreement with the ECA expires in 2014 and Rosell warned the clubs could go it alone unless the governing body accepts the demands.

'If not then ECA is entitled to organise their own champions competition by themselves,' he said.

Rosell said the ECA's current memorandum of understanding with UEFA was valid until 2014, with a new agreement under discussion.

'If this (a new MoU) doesn't happen, then the worst case scenario is that we will go away from UEFA.'